Is it a go or no go?
Federalism is one of the campaign promises of then Davao
Mayor and now President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, he aims to decentralize the power
that seems to be concentrated to “Imperial Manila”.
Under the proposed bill for its creation, five states will
be created and will be composed of Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, Bangsamoro, and
Metro Manila. The Senate hearing regarding the need to change the form of
government to federalism invited experts on the matter. *
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| Two former Chief Justices, Hilario Davide Jr and Renato Puno (photo credit to PDI) |
The 20th and
the 22nd, Chief Justice of the Philippines, Hilario Davide Jr. and Renato
Puno respectively gave different opinions on the plan
of the President to change the form of government to federalism.They were
invited by the Senate committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of
Codes headed by Senator Francis Pangilinan.
Former
Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. warned the Senate that shifting to Federalism
ia a “lethal experiment” as it will not suit the Philippines and the “people of
our generation and even those of the succeeding generations.”
Davide,
is one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, made his stand in insisting
that the present system of government is the best fit for the country’s history,
culture, character, and traditions, among other things, as it had “proven
itself to be so.”
“My position is: A shift to federalism is a lethal experiment, a fatal leap, a plunge to death, a leap to hell,” he told senators on the committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes .
“My position is: A shift to federalism is a lethal experiment, a fatal leap, a plunge to death, a leap to hell,” he told senators on the committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes .
“If
the shift to federalism were to deal with the imbalance created by an “Imperial
Manila,” then this could be done by “effectively and efficiently implementing
the relevant provisions” of the present Constitution “for strong local autonomy
and decentralization.” Davide said. *
Davide
also pitched for the Congress to just amend the Local Government Code.
For
Chief Justice Puno,the shift to federalism would require the “overhauling” of
the Constitution or a revision and “not a surgical amendment” because, among
other things, there was a need to define the philosophy of the federal
government to be adopted. He even joked that he had no intelligent answer to
Davide’s statement that going to federal was a leap to hell because he had
never been to hell.
“Why
are we classified year in and year out as a failing democracy? One of the
principal reasons for that is our unitary form of government,” Puno said.
“In
noncentralization of powers, you give real political, economic and social
powers to the states and you give these powers from the Constitution itself. So
it will not be a grant of powers from the national government but a grant of
real powers from the Constitution itself, which means these states will have
self-rule and self-determination,” Puno said.
Former Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., which is considered as the father of the Local Government Code disagreed with Davide that going federal was a lethal experiment, making a contrary stand, it was a “vital” one as this was in the interest of good government and in providing a good life for the Filipinos.
Pimentel said that if the Philippines would go federal, the Constitution should be revised.
Former Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., which is considered as the father of the Local Government Code disagreed with Davide that going federal was a lethal experiment, making a contrary stand, it was a “vital” one as this was in the interest of good government and in providing a good life for the Filipinos.
Pimentel said that if the Philippines would go federal, the Constitution should be revised.
“If we have to revise the Constitution to give meaning to
the devolution intended by the Local Government Code, we might as well move
forward to the scope and power by adopting the federal system,” he said.
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